Did France EVER have a chance against Britain at sea?

[Alf Tupper]

 

What is quite interesting is that the importance that it became for England is way bigger than the sense of tragedy gave by the French. One simply stated that they actually ruled the seas, or would fight hard for it. For the second it simply was a "delay" in their continental plans. Was a battle of importance BUT in the minds of the continental powers it simply saved Britain from invasion. It did not change the Status Quo lived in land.

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry - it had to be done....

[Iñigo Montoya]

What do real life french victories and losses have to do with being french in a game like this?  Losing a lot in real life does not have any bearing on wheather french will win battles in game.  It should not be discouraging at all. 

I plan to fight for a disappearing Empire with a beautiful and rich past and a dark future, and believe me, I'll do it as if it was 1530 all over again

[colorado71]

It seems that there was a famous victory of the frigate La Belle Poule against the HMS Arethusa. They say the ladies at the court of France celebrated the victory by bearing a frigate-like hair-style.

There was also a lot of victories in the fiction, mostly french (Guy Vander, for example). With one - probably not single - English exception - Baron de Rivarol's man-o-war against Captain Blood's frigate Arabella - but Sabatini was of Italian origin.

No offence intended. Actually I am an admirer of french navigateurs like Louis de Bougainville and others.

Edited March 6, 2015 by colorado71

[Alex Connor]

I don't know if you can call La Belle Poule vs Arethusa a famous victory...

 

A fierce fight to be sure, but it was a draw, and as such inconclusive. Arethusa lost her mainmast but La Belle Boule had much heavier casualties, neither ship was in much of a condition to fight on at the end and they parted ways.

[maturin]

The French regarded it as a victory that the heavier British frigate was beaten off. As for famous, that's objectively true, given how celebrated it was in France.

[Alex Connor]

Well, I'm not disputing the famous part but retreating into a cove (towed by boats) after having taken heavier casualties and your opponent giving up because they can't follow you doesn't sound like much of a victory.

 

Also, Arethusa (ex-French Arethuse/Pelerine) was the smaller and lighter of the 2 frigates.

http://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=3276

http://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_ship&id=3104

[maturin]

Huh, I'm trying to remember where I read about that fight, because I was under the impression that Arethusa was more powerful.

 

It was something of a victory by French standards, as Arethusa was essentially disabled:

 

The Arethusa being much mattered in her masts, fails, and rigging, and there being very little wind to govern her, she was thrown in such a situation as not to be able to get her head towards the French ship, notwithstanding Captain Marshall's utmost endeavours so to do.

 

The disparity in casualties was probably due, as always, to the French habit of shooting at the rigging with an inferior rate of fire. Conceivably Belle Poole could have pressed the action if her crew had been willing. Remember that she was running from a British squadron at them time, and Arethusa was unable to take her despite a close-fought action.

[tylerf]

I remember a saying, can't remember what book, about the French and British. "The French knew how to build ships, while the British knew how to sail them."

[Jeremiah O'Brien]

Well, in our case it entirely depends on the players. And it wasn't really the fault of the French admirals. Historically, Napoleon had no clue how to properly run a navy, yet he still tried to micromanage it. Fortunately, in NA the success of any fleet entirely relies on the playerbase, and not a dictator who couldn't tell his larboard and starboard apart

Edited March 25, 2015 by Jeremiah O'Brien